THE IMPORTANCE OF GRAY

I recently purchased a few ArtBytes from Carol Marines' web site (Daily Paint Works) and find them  valuable to my learning curve. The ArtBytes are short with a video to please an audio visual learner like myself.

The ArtByte that I am referring to is Saturation and Color Mixing.  I was most fascinated by her comment; " If you are searching for a color, it is probably gray". She then proceeded to mix gray from all three primaries adding a little white.

I am emulating a page from Carol's book Daily Painting to see if I can ingrain the lesson into my brain. I used a 5x7 canvas board painted with a pink background, I sketched Carol's flower in a jar and added chalk to make changes so that I am not completely copying.

                                                     

Daily Painting pg. 2

My step one.

Even I can see the lack of value and color changes in my version. Now I will try to mix a gray for the background and add my changes to the flower.

I call it SLIM PICKIN'S

GO WITH THE FLOW

I feel an abstract phase coming on!

I may not be writing as much but I am trying to keep you informed with the work I am doing via DAILY PAINT WORKS, you know the painting a day on line web site.
It is really difficult to complete a painting a day but I am trying. My hope is that I will continue to grow as an artist and have fun along the way.

May the painting gods be with you.

GOLD DUST

GOLD DUST

I invision a night sky with an explosion of star dust which may be the beginning or the ending  of a celestial structure.  Once I read that all life is made up of star dust and will return to star dust ...another one of those questions for which I have no answer.

DON'T KNOW

What is the meaning of life, is there life on other planets, is there a heaven or a hell?
For me all the deep questions in life are summed up in these simple oriental symbols.
 I truly don't know.

Painting Update

     I may have paused blogging but I have been painting. Here is my most recent that I finished for Daily Paint Works where you can keep up with my progress.

TEA POT FOR ONE

May the colors fly off of your palette onto the canvas with ease:)
Mary Ellen

BLOG PAUSE

Painting a fire hydrant in our dog park.

   As I grow older I try to listen more and talk less, so taking my own advice  I think it is time to paint more and write/blog less.

The value of my art blog was to keep me focused and learning but the time has come to pause and prioritize my time usage.

I bid you well on your artistic ventures.

Mary Ellen

ANTIQUITY WARRIOR POET Mixed Media

AVACADO SEASON

     It is August and our avacado tree is full of ripening green teardrop orbs. I take them to share with my painting group and Silver Sneakers exercise class. So why not paint the bounty of home grown.

    I pre-painted the canvas with acrylic paints to create the design and then finished it with oils using a palette knife to up the texture factor.

     This time I made myself create a mother pile of color with  warm and cool sub color piles. The value of the warm/cool paint went from dark to light to capture harmonious values.

I used a different photo that captured some foreshortening of the stem.

I like this one better than my finished product. When will I learn to stop painting?

Oil over lay.